Australia urges haste on Afghanistan's reconstruction
Updated
The Australian defence minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, says he wants the United Nations to speed up its reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.
Mr Fitzgibbon expressed his frustration that the UN special envoy to Afghanistan has faced delays in coordinating reconstruction across the country.
Australia has more than 1,000 troops in Afghanistan, mainly in Oruzgan province.
Mr Fitzgibbon says he has been talking to the defence ministers of other countries involved in Afghanistan about improving resources and cutting bureaucracy at the UN.
"I understand that their structure makes makes the pace of these things very, very slow," he said.
"I want to engage with them, to work with them to ensure that the special envoy in Afghanistan gets all the financing and resourcing he needs to do his job properly and effectively."
